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Front Row

BBC Radio 4

Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music

society & culture

All Episodes

42:34

Review, The Wedding Banquet, Isabel Allende, The...

Front Row ·

2025/05/08

Authors Matt Cain and Eimear McBride join Tom Sutcliffe to review a new remake of Ang Lee's 1993 classic The Wedding Banquet. They also discuss Isabel Allende's new novel My Name is Emilia del Valle and the play The Brightening Air, on at the Old Vic theatre in London. And the National Gallery is having a re-hang, we speak to Head of the Curatorial Department, Christine Riding.

42:26

Leni Riefenstahl, Queen Elizabeth Memorial, Keli

Front Row ·

2025/05/07

Acclaimed German journalist and film producer Sandra Maischberger talks about her new documentary about Leni Riefenstahl, which re-examines the life and career of the filmmaker and Nazi propagandist who was one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. Art historian and curator Sandy Nairne, a member of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, and journalist and broadcaster Nancy Durrant discuss digital designs by teams shortlisted to create the permanent memorial to Queen Elizabeth in St

42:23

Hamlet Radiohead mashup, Stoke-on-Trent pottery in...

Front Row ·

2025/05/06

In the wake of President Trump's proposed film tariffs, Jake Kanter, International Investigations Editor at Deadline, discusses what the impact could be for the British film industry.Last week Moorcroft became the latest heritage ceramic company to close its doors in Stoke-On-Trent. Emma Bridgewater, founder of the eponymous ceramics company, and Alasdair Brooks from Re-Form Heritage, discuss the decline of pottery in The Potteries.A new genre-bending production of Hamlet created in collaboration

42:08

A snapshot of culture on VE Day 1945

Front Row ·

2025/05/05

To mark the 80th anniversary this week, we explore British culture around VE Day in 1945, reflecting on the music, books, films and theatre that defined the moment and the complex emotional landscape that followed the war’s end. Songwriter and pianist Kate Garner joins us at the piano.Guests: Michael Billington, theatre critic; Ian Christie, film historian; Kevin Le Gendre, music journalist and broadcaster; Lara Feigel, Professor of Modern Literature, King's College London; Kate Garner, singer and

41:51

Review: John Lennon docs, Tina Fey's The Four Seasons...

Front Row ·

2025/05/01

Critic Kate Maltby and Beatles author Ian Leslie join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss two documentaries about John Lennon remaking his life in New York - Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade and One to One: John & Yoko. They also discuss Tina Fey’s new series The Four Seasons, based on the 1981 film of the same name, which explores the relationships of three longstanding couples who holiday together. And we'll be reviewing a new musical version of The Great Gatsby, fresh in from Broadway. Plus writer

41:59

King James VI & I, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean...

Front Row ·

2025/05/01

Jeff Pope on his new series Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent man who was killed by police on a London tube in 2005, which launches tonight on Disney+. James VI of Scotland & I of England is the subject of a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. We’re joined by the historical writers Lucy Hughes Hallett and Steven Veerapen. And performance art in a new film The Extraordinary Miss Flower, a musical portrait of a mysterious woman, who left

41:53

Noddy Holder of Slade, Stephen Rea and Simone de...

Front Row ·

2025/04/29

In 1975, at the height of their fame, British band Slade made a feature film, Slade in Flame. The film was a critical and commercial failure at the time, but has built up a cult following over the years. Now it's being re-released in cinemas and on DVD. Frontman Noddy Holder and film director Richard Loncraine spoke to Samira Ahmed in studio.Samira talks with Irish actor Stephen Rae about his career working with Samuel Beckett, his hit film The Crying Game, and his current production of Krapp’s Last

42:18

Universal Theme Park, Olivier award-winning play...

Front Row ·

2025/04/28

Mark Rosenblatt on Giant, his Olivier award-winning play starring John Lithgow as Roald Dahl.As Universal Studios announce plans for a major new theme park in Bedfordshire, what does this mean for the UK entertainment industry? Samira is joined by entertainment journalist Ella Baskerville and Gareth Smy from Framestore to discuss its signficance and the kinds of rides it's likely to contain. German director Natja Brunckhorst on her comedy film Two to One, about an East German heist set in the days

42:30

Review: Self Esteem's album A Complicated Woman;...

Front Row ·

2025/04/24

Journalist Siân Pattenden & critic Stephanie Merritt join Tom to discuss Self Esteem's third album A Complicated Woman, which features collaborations with Nadine Shah and Moonchild Sanelly. Ahead of the release, Self Esteem AKA Rebecca Lucy Taylor showcased the album by staging a five-night theatrical presentation at London's Duke of York theatre. Tom and guests also talk about the Belgian film Julie Keeps Quiet, where a star player at a top tennis school deals with the aftermath of her coach

42:06

The ethics of publishing posthumous diaries, Pianist...

Front Row ·

2025/04/23

As the journals of the American writer Joan Didion (based on conversations with her psychiatrist) are published, writer and journalist Rachel Cooke and Alan Taylor, editor of actor Alan Rickman's diaries, discuss the challenges, responsibilities and ethics of posthumously publishing the diaries of great writers, artists and actors. Acclaimed German pianist Pianist Igor Levit talks about his own challenge - that of performing Erik Satie's pioneering piece Vexations, in a performance at the

42:32

Dante's Inferno in Jamaica, Messiaen's Quartet for...

Front Row ·

2025/04/22

Jamaica's former poet laureate, Lorna Goodison, on setting Dante's Inferno on the island of her birth; Journalist Joanna Moorhead on Pope Francis' relationship with the arts; Poet and librettist Michael Symmons Roberts on writing a form-breaking book to re-examine French composer Olivier Messiaen's form-breaking masterwork - Quartet for the End of Time; and going in search of an important piece of theatre history with Daniel Swift, author of The Dream Factory: London's First Playhouse and the

42:24

JMW Turner: 250th anniversary of Britain's greatest...

Front Row ·

2025/04/21

Mr. Turner director Mike Leigh, art historian Charlotte Mullins and senior curator at Tate Amy Concannon join Tom Sutcliffe to celebrate the life and work of JMW Turner, as we approach the 250th anniversary of his birth. Also in this edition, David Hockney on Turner's skill as an artist, Alvaro Barrington talks about his continuing influence on artists today, and Tom goes to the conservation studio at Tate Britain to see what’s being done to protect Turner's bequest and look after his fragile and

42:20

Review: Alex Garland's film Warfare, Audition by...

Front Row ·

2025/04/17

Alex Garland's latest film Warfare, which is co-directed by US military veteran Ray Mendoza turns back the clock back nearly twenty years to reconstruct a real-life surveillance mission in Iraq. Film critic Tim Robey and journalist Zing Tsjeng give their verdict on the analysis of the theatre of war, which unfolds in real time. They've also been to see Shanghai Dolls at London's Kiln Theatre - which spans six decades of Chinese history, focusing on the life of an actress who was to personify the

42:18

Photographer Susan Meiselas, The Impact of Trump's...

Front Row ·

2025/04/16

American documentary photographer and President of the Magnum Foundation Susan Meiselas speaks about her fifty-year career, as she receives the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025, and as her work goes on display at Somerset House in London.We hear how President Trump's economic tariffs are affecting specialist manufacturers of musical instruments here in the UK. Author and screenwriter Ewan Morrison, whose previous books have explored cults and

42:24

Ryan Coogler on Sinners, The Women's Orchestra of...

Front Row ·

2025/04/15

US director Ryan Coogler on his supernatural horror film, Sinners. Anne Sebba discusses her new book, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, about the orchestra formed in 1943 among the female prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. And as a new report looking at so-called book banning in the United States is published, we talked to author Ellen Hopkins, American Libraries Association President Cindy Hohl and Neal McCluskey Director of libertarian thinktank, The Cato Institute's Center

42:17

Muriel's Wedding the Musical, Dr Who, Anthony...

Front Row ·

2025/04/14

Director and Screenwriter PJ Hogan, creator of the 1994 comedy Muriel's wedding, speaks to Samira Ahmed about the new musical adaptation of his film. With lead actors leaving, and ratings down, there are questions about the future of Doctor Who. Author John Higgs, and entertainment writer Caroline Frost, talk about the past, present and future of the world famous Time Lord. And Anthony Horowitz talks about turning 70, and the release of his new book, Marble Hall Murders.Presenter: Samira

42:06

Review: The Return reunites Juliette Binoche and...

Front Row ·

2025/04/10

Classics professor Edith Hall and writer Lawrence Norfolk join Tom to review The Return, a retelling of the end of Homer’s Odyssey, where the hero Odysseus returns to his kingdom decades after the battle of Troy to find his wife Queen Penelope fending off suitors out to take his throne. The film stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche talk to Tom about being reunited on screen for the first time since The English Patient.Tom and guests also review Holy Cow, an award winning film about youth,

42:03

Tracy Chapman, the Arthur Miller moment in UK...

Front Row ·

2025/04/09

Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman talks about the re-release of her eponymous debut album after 35 years, about how those songs of oppression and aspiration, written so long ago, speak to us today, and about going from almost unknown to world famous in one performance.We ask two directors of productions of The Crucible (by Scottish Ballet, and at Shakespeare's Globe) why there is an Arthur Miller moment in theatres this spring. And journalist Kate Mossman talks about her book about rock royalty, Men

42:38

Kym Marsh on Abigail's Party, Severance creator Dan...

Front Row ·

2025/04/08

Kym Marsh on stepping into the iconic role of Beverly in theatre classic Abigail's Party as the play opens at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.Film critic Hannah Strong and George Pundek, co-host of the Pulp Kitchen film podcast, on why so many of the big film franchises are facing difficulties.Severance creator Dan Erickson on making a television hit with his debut project.Novelist Max Porter, who is chair of the judges for this year's International Booker Prize, on the books that have made

42:44

Manhunt play by Robert Icke, new Edwardians...

Front Row ·

2025/04/07

Theatre director Robert Icke's production of Oedipus won best revival and a best actress award for Lesley Manville at last night's Olivier Awards - but his new play Manhunt is now demanding his attention at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The drama focuses on the story of Raoul Moat who attacked his ex-girlfriend and killed her new boyfriend before a stand-off with armed police which ended in his suicide. Samira talks to Robert Icke and to Samuel Edward-Cook who plays Moat. The Edwardian era -

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